"Aging in prison: older women deprived of liberty in Chile."

• In Event: Aging in prison. Prison staff and volunteers in prison

Abstract

The accelerated aging of the world population is considered one of the most relevant social transformations of the 21st century (ONU, 2022). A challenge that requires urgent concern is the case of the aging of the incarcerated population (Di Lorito et al., 2018; Maldonado, 2019; Turner et al., 2018), both due to the situation of double vulnerability of this population, as well as due to their specific needs associated with age, such as health care and maintaining affective relationships with the outside world (Wilkinson & Caulfield, 2020). In Chile, close to 3% of the incarcerated population is over 60 years of age (GENCHI, 2022) and since 2000 the increase in female incarceration has occurred on all continents (Walmsley, 2018), especially South America (Giacomello, 2013). The increase in sentenced older women confronts us with relevant questions, such as what is the impact of imprisonment on older women? How do they experience the sorrows of prison? among others. This proposal will present the results of the study "Aging in prison: older women deprived of liberty in Chile", financed by the Gender Research Fund of the University of Chile. The general objective is to "Analyse the experiences of imprisonment of older women deprived of liberty in Chile, from a gender perspective." The impact of imprisonment in the lives of ten old women at the San Joaquín prison - analysed using from a gender approach- will be presented, This study seeks to collaborate with the criminological discussion of topics that have been poorly addressed in the Southern criminology debates, such as the relation between aging, imprisonment and gender.

Authors

• Carolina Villagra, Universidad de Chile

• Paula Flores, Universidad de Chile

• Matias Quintanilla, Universidad de Chile

• María Javiera Aracena, Universidad de Chile